The Georgia Indo-American Chamber of Commerce honored two highly influential international companies in Atlanta for their contributions to bilateral business between Georgia and India at a recent banquet celebrating Diwali, an annual Indian festival of lights signifying the coming of a new year.

United Parcel Service Inc. received recognition as an American company doing business in India, while Wipro Technologies., the IT arm of Wipro Ltd. that recently chose Atlanta as the location for its global software development center, won the award as an Indian company doing business in Atlanta. 

CARE, an international aid organization that fights poverty in more than 60 countries worldwide, also garnered an award for its work in India, which focuses on empowering women to impact their communities.

Fritz Valsaint, supplier diversity coordinator for UPS, accepted the award on his company’s behalf.  Although his acceptance speech was brief, he emphasized the importance of India for the United States and for UPS in the increasingly global marketplace.

“UPS is about enabling global commerce, and that’s the reason we’re (in India) and will continue to be there so that we can do what we do best—enabling global commerce,” Mr. Valsaint said to an audience of about 250.

Mr. Valsaint told GlobalAtlanta during the subsequent dinner that he believes that many people misunderstand UPS’ role in global commerce.  He said that the company is much more than a package delivery service.

UPS lends funds to help grow businesses and provides logistical services and market information to help them succeed in foreign markets, and the company’s expertise is daily growing in demand as the balances of economic power have begun to shift, he said. 

Right now, the U.S. controls about one-third of the world’s GDP with only about 5 percent of the population, Mr. Valsaint said, while China and India, with about one-third of the world’s population, only control around 7 percent of worldwide GDP.

“What’s going to happen in the next 10 years or so is that’s going to flip,” Mr. Valsaint said, acknowledging that a significant portion of UPS’ earnings were generated by growth in the small package markets in Asia.  “We cannot ignore India and China.  That’s our future.” 

While many companies like UPS have focused on moving operations to India, Wipro has come in the opposite direction, setting up major operations in the U.S.

Wipro representative Reshmi Velurkar was also brief in her acceptance remarks.  She thanked the emcee for correctly pronouncing her name before expressing her gratitude on behalf of Wipro’s approximately 78,000 employees worldwide.

The IT giant now has 12 offices in the United States, and it selected Atlanta to strengthen its relationship with customers in the region and to tap into the University System of Georgia’s tech-savvy talent base.  

The software development center will hire up to 200 of Georgia’s university graduates in its first year of operation, and plans are in the works to hire a total of 500 in the first three years.  Wipro also plans to sponsor at least 40 percent of its trainees for higher education degrees, according to press releases.

Wipro’s decision to move to Atlanta was a yearlong process with a great deal of help from the Georgia Indo-American chamber, which facilitated meetings with high-level Georgia and Atlanta officials.

Roop Singh, a committee co-chair at the chamber, said that a meeting he helped organized in October 2006 established relationships between the right people, eventually resulting in representatives from the Georgia Department of Economic Development stopping at Wipro’s headquarters during a mission to India in early 2007.

“This event opened the channels between the Indian business community in Atlanta and GDEcD and spurred a flurry of activities related to doing business with India,” Mr. Singh said.

Economic development issues also impact the mission of CARE, which is headquartered in Atlanta and also had a presence at the banquet.

Steve Hollingworth, the humanitarian organization’s chief operating officer who accepted the chamber’s award, lived in New Delhi for awhile before returning to the U.S.

After a Southern accent-tinged Diwali greeting that mixed in a “y’all,” Mr. Hollingworth talked about Care’s work among 55 million of the world’s poorest people.  He said the group focuses most of its work on women in India.

“We give particular attention to women in our work because when you empower women, you make fundamental changes in the lives of families,” Mr. Hollingworth said to hearty applause.

He noted that a “quiet revolution” is going on in India, with 85,000 women’s self-help groups being formed and many banks beginning to give small loans to women to help them get started in business. 

Outside groups weren’t the only ones to receive awards.  Two of the chamber’s founding members, Kandy Anand and Ash Thakker, were also recognized. 

Mr. Anand was recently appointed as deputy division president of the Coca-Cola Co.’s Philippines unit and was traveling, so his wife accepted a commendable service award on his behalf. 

Mr. Thakker accepted a service award in recognition of his efforts from the formation of the chamber seven years ago until now.

Gov. Sonny Perdue and Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin sent representatives to express their congratulations and wishes for a happy Diwali.

Josephine Tan, head of the Asian-American Commission for a New Georgia, read the governor’s remarks, while Claire McLeveighn, head of international affairs for the mayor’s office, offered greetings from Ms. Franklin and expressed excitement about a sister city application which has been drafted between Atlanta and Ahmedabad, a city of almost 4 million in western India.

The evening’s activities were rounded out by an Indian meal and a fashion show featuring clothing by Buckhead fashion designer Christine Phillips.  Musicians from Tarang, a music school in Atlanta, provided entertainment throughout the evening.